Korean Church!

We were invited to attend a Korean Baptist church Sunday, September 9th

 



 Here is Avery on the subway...when she still liked it.  Later she started screaming everytime we got on it!   The church was on the other side of Seoul so we had about a hour of travel time via foot & subway.

 

The church met at this university.  It has about 2000 members.  The university is Konkuk University - KU -Drew as thrilled there was a KU in Seoul.  It also has a medical school Here is Drew and the daughter of the lady that invited us.  Her name was Hani Chang Victoria.  She was in 6th grade.



 

Here is the pastor praying over each child.  The kids came onto the stage, sat down.  She spoke to them and then put her hand on each child and prayed for them.  

 

 Here she is praying for Jack.

 

Here is the auditorium where the service was held.

 



 After the service, we were invited to eat with their cell group.  They always have church, then afterwards they eat, have prayer requests, and pray together.  They were super sweet and thoughtful and ordered us pizza for lunch!  They even ordered it from a place that didn't deliver because they thought we'd like it better!   

 

 

 They even ordered Avery a beautiful birthday cake form a local deli becasue she turned 2 that day. (picture was deleted by Avery herself so its at the end of the post!)

 

 Here is the whole group.

 

 

 The girls got tired during prayer, so I took them outside and they ran around.

 

I caught them both laughing!

 

 Sisters

 

 

 Here is the lake that is on the universioty campus!  It was beautiful.  Notice the sign in the lake says "Smart KU"  Drew was thrilled!!

 

On the way home.

 

 On the subway home.

 

Tired after a long day and birthday party!

 

 Here is the birthdya cake they got her!  It was SO yummy!! 

Happy 2nd birthday sweetheart! 

 

Thank you so much for including us in your church worship and small group!  We loved the pizza and we were so moved by everyones generosity and kindness!  It meant SO much to us.  We will NEVER forget it!

 



North Seoul Tower

 Later that evening, (Saturday, September 9th, we all went to the North Seoul Tower which is a popular tourist attraction in Seoul. 

Here are some super cute kiddos on the subway.

 

 We were literallt hiking up bakstreets trying to ge to Namsun park which is where the tower is located.  Here we could see the tower in the distance.

 

 We finally got to the park, and started hiking up this very beautiful path up the mountian.

 

 Here we are resting.  It was quite steep.

 

 Here is Avery snuggling up to Nick. So sweet!

 

 After realizing we went the wrong way on the path, we hiked back down and found the line for the gondola which takes you up the mountian to the tower.  Here we are in line.  (I'm pretty sure we hiked 5 miles or more with babies strapped to our backs.  We were tired!!!)

 

 The boys.  Actually a good picture!

 

We finally made it to the base of the tower.  Here is the view of the tower.  It was so beautiful.

 We brought locks with Addison and Avery's names on them to put on the "lock tree."  This is a place where people put locks to commerate love.

 

A random photo by a Korean star. After we took the photo an employee ran out an took the cardbaord guy inside his store.  hummm..maybe we weren't supossed to do that!  We all laughed!

 the tower

 

cutie pie.

 

 

The locks locked together on the North Tower - forever a piece of them in Seoul

 trying to get a photo by the locks.

 

The boys in front of the lock trees.  They were in the shape of Christmas trees and completlely covered by locks.

 

There were an unbelievable amount of locks, most had special little meesages attached to them.

 

The light show on the tower.  I have video of this at the end of the blog.  It was incredible!

 Nick an I with the babies!  The tower was so incredible!  It was jsut a great sight!

 

 

The DMZ

 

 good morning!  were on our way to the DMZ (September 8th - morning)

 

Jack& Dad on the tour bus en route to the Demilitarized Zone between North & South Korea (DMZ) 

 



 

This is a Korean War memorial.  This is located ata  park near the DMZ. 

This is where Nick had several Chinese guys want to take a picture of him.  Strange we thought?!  Maybe there aren't many bald white guys in China?!?!

 

This is a monument...Nick doesn't remember what for.  He said, "I don't know mom, I don't read Korean!"  -Really?!?!

A fence of ribbons.

 



 

A train that the North Koreans bombed.

 



 

This is "Freedom Bridge" which is a bridge connects a train from Seoul to Pyeongyang, North Korea.  It was built in hopes that the countries would be able to reconcile and resume travel between them.

 

Maore photos of the bombed train.

 



Another memorial.

 



"Freedom Bell"

 



A photo-op just outside the DMZ.  Cute boys!

 



 A garden area outside the DMZ.

 

 

 



 

This is a memorial that shows the desire for re-unification of both Koreas. 

 



This is a photo of North Korea.  Drew was on Nick's shoulder trying to get this shot.  You could only get this photo from one certian place becasue if you crossed a certain line your camara would be confiscated and your photos erased!  Bravo for the great photo boys!

 

The guys also went into the tunnels dug by the North Koreans but photos were prohibited there.  Mark said the tunnel was large enough to move 30,00 troops into Seoul in one hour.  They were discovered when a defector reported them to the South Koreans.  The guys said they were very interesting. 

 

 

Thats the DMZ...or what I was told about it!  I was at Pororo park instead. 

Sisters: first day together!

 

So on Saturday, September 10th, the boys went to the DMZ and the girls and I stayed in.  I took them to Pororo Park which is a little kids playland.  Pororo is a VERY popular cartoon here in Korea.  The fox character by Addie is one of Pororo's friends.   Here they are playing in the kitchen/book/house area.

 



 

Avery playing in the kitchen area.

 



This are was full of soft blocks and legos.  Pretty girl!

 



 Oh! soft tunnels too!

 

Avery isn't terribly fond of the camara I've discovered!  I know she looks unhappy but she was having fun...I swear!!!

 



 This was the climbing/slides area.  Avery really liked this as you can see! 

 



They both loved the slides and went down them over and over!

 The train was also a favorite!  Again, Avery isn't smiling but she really liked it.   They rode it over and over.

 

Avery's very favorite area was the musical area.  It had bells, drums, pianos, cymbal, tamberines, everything!  She was delighted!! 

 



 There in the middle is Pororo..I think hes either a duck or a penguin.  I just can't tell!!

 

Playing in the ball pit!  Avery LOVED throwing the balls!  In fact, she loves throwing anything!!!

 



 After Pororo Park, we had a little McDonalds

  picnic to end our long day!  WE has SO much fun!